The family that showed America what moral clarity looks like



Charlie Kirk’s alleged murderer came from somewhere. We all do.

Since the “In the beginning” times, our species has wrestled with the fundamental logic — and perceived unfairness — of holding parents responsible for the sins of their children. Or the other way around. In the Old Testament book of Ezekiel, the prophet makes this explicit:

The person who sins will die. A son will not suffer the punishment for the father’s guilt, nor will a father suffer the punishment for the son’s guilt; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself. (Ezekiel 18:20)

Yet, we mortals struggle with this idea. It’s a matter of self-preservation. The unifying idea is that we must bear some responsibility for the behavior of our own kids. Our kids are reflections of us because we put our stamp on them. Functional societies have a justifiable fear of the ripple effects of other people’s bad parenting.

What this family confronted deserves to be noticed, praised, and modeled.

Healthy families are civilization’s frontline schoolhouse of needed humans — producers of good men, women, and citizens. Bad parents can easily replicate themselves and often do. It is a rare and beautiful testament to the enduring nature of the good to see exceptions to the rule.

The inverse happens, too. I have met many good parents of bad kids — a bad seed that grows up to be a bad adult. Or a good kid who leaves the home for school, falls in with the wrong crowd, and rejects root and branch the ways of his family.

Modern parents know that at some point, we must let our offspring venture into a hard and secular world outside the home threshold, a world that undermines good parenting at every turn. A school system that inverts the established, time-tested ways for purposes of political indoctrination. A culture that has lost any sense of moral and natural limits. An algorithmic media that is set on setting people into warring tribes with desensitized, brutish ways.

Good soil, infected fruit

Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin was born and raised in Southwestern Utah — Mormon territory. He was the son of a mother and father who raised their kids in the Mormon way, which produces exemplary fruits that are missionaries to the world. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — its formal name — instills family loyalty, stewardship, tolerance, sobriety, hard work, and sharing. Members tithe. They contribute. They are impressive people.

Even Matt Stone and Trey Parker, with their “Dumb, Dumb, Dumb” view of the Mormon religion (which is a cutout for all organized religion), recognized that Mormons have strong families and raise very good kids. The whole “Book of Mormon” craze began with a 2003 “South Park” episode featuring an impressive Mormon high school kid. His ending soliloquy put it best:

Look, maybe us Mormons do believe in crazy stories that make absolutely no sense, and maybe Joseph Smith did make it all up. But I have a great life and a great family, and I have the Book of Mormon to thank for that.

The truth is, I don’t care if Joseph Smith made it all up, because what the church teaches now is loving your family, being nice, and helping people.

I don’t know about you, but I admire the old-school way the accused killer’s father brought his son — his own flesh and blood — to face justice.

Would you have done the same?

The family saw the fruit of their loins on video surveillance in a national all-points bulletin. The family reached out to their own. Father and grandfather. They talked him into coming home. Once he was home, they convinced him to turn himself in for the crime — and to stanch the dishonor that he had done to his family’s name.

Would Luigi Mangione’s wealthy and well-connected Maryland family have done the same if they recognized his distinctive eyebrows? “Come home, son,” followed by, “You must turn yourself in to the authorities and be held accountable.” There’s no evidence they did anything of the kind. If they had, would Luigi have complied? I doubt it.

Fathers and mothers of America: Do you think you and yours could do similarly? To ask that question is not to answer it easily.

This Utah family has a quiet dignity to it. Their creed was not an assassin’s creed. Their kid is certainly a lost young man. He took a path outside of his family’s way, but his family retained a line of communication and influence over their prodigal son. They lost their son to dark, demonic forces, but appealed to the light remaining in him and brought him home and to justice.

What this family confronted deserves to be noticed, praised, and modeled. Our country was given clarity in real time. We very rarely get that. This young man did not come in lawyered up and with his phone locked and encrypted.

RELATED: Here's what we know about Tyler Robinson, the man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk

Photo by Office of the Governor of Utah via Getty Images

A reeling nation did not have to suffer the indignity of mushroom management, where “We the People” are kept in the legalese dark and fed legalese doggerel.

Every family that has successfully raised a good kid to adulthood knows how hard it is in our present educational, cultural, and social media bathhouses.

A family in need of prayer

A family can hold a line, and a kid can transgress it. Once upon a time, the family had educational and cultural support systems that checked transgression and bolstered parents and kids. Kids heard a shared common and civilized creed in and outside the house. That cord has been cut for a while, and our families and nation are suffering at scale because of it.

This family summoned their prodigal son home. While we rightfully think of their son as a moral monster, they still had a familial claim and power over him. And with it, they brought him home and then to justice.

This family gave another grieving family and a nation the closure it needed. We owe them our thanks and compassion for displaying moral courage when it counted. The sins of their son are not theirs. They ought to be seen by the nation as neighbors in good standing. They need and deserve our parental prayers.

Under present grooming circumstances, there but for the grace of God go all of us.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.

Why Calling Charlie Kirk A Martyr Matters

Charlie Kirk’s murder was not simply the death of a man, but a spiritual assault in a spiritual war between Good and Evil.

Charlie Kirk's death revealed the kingdoms colliding in America



The contrast couldn’t be more severe: two martyrs, two causes. One died for the religion of social justice, the other for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

America now stands at a crossroads. Which path will we choose: the broad path that leads to chaos and destruction, or the narrow path that leads to peace and life?

Out of Charlie Kirk’s death, lives are being changed forever. The gospel is advancing. The church is awakening.

On one side, you have the death of George Floyd. Within 24 hours of the video going viral, nationwide protests erupted. Students walked out of classrooms. Crowds poured into the streets. City blocks went up in flames. Businesses were ransacked. Stores looted. Police officers, in many cases, stood down and watched as precincts were burned to the ground.

And Floyd wasn’t the only flashpoint. In Ferguson, Missouri, the death of Michael Brown sparked weeks of violent rioting, leaving entire neighborhoods scorched. In Kenosha, Wisconsin, the police shooting of Jacob Blake ignited nights of arson and looting, culminating in chaos that left the city smoldering.

In each case, Americans were told to understand the destruction as “the voice of the oppressed.” Politicians bent over backward to excuse the lawlessness, even pledging to bail out masked agitators who turned cities into war zones. Lives were lost in the name of “justice.”

And when the flames weren’t enough, activists decided to go further. They declared entire neighborhoods “autonomous zones” — police-free utopias where oppression was supposed to vanish and a new society would flourish.

The same voices behind the riots called for defunding the police. And what did that bring? More chaos. More crime. More death. Neighborhoods left vulnerable. Families abandoned. Chaos parading as justice.

The death of a true martyr

Now, set that against what followed the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

He was murdered for daring to give the biggest microphone not to his friends but to those who opposed him. He welcomed debate. He confronted hostile ideas head on. He refused to be silenced by intimidation. And for that, he paid with his life.

But look at the fruit that followed his death.

No buildings burned. No businesses looted. No cities reduced to ash.

Instead, only candles burned — vigil candles, lifted high in memory of a man who gave his life for truth. People gathered in churches. Prayers rose instead of Molotov cocktails. Instead of mobs demanding blood, thousands made decisions to follow Christ. Politicians who would never publicly declare the name of Jesus suddenly spoke openly about the need for the gospel. Instead of excuses for lawlessness, there were testimonies of salvation.

RELATED: Charlie Kirk showed us the lie at the heart of progressive culture

BENJAMIN HANSON/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

And yet — after Charlie’s death — all of the cowards found their courage. The very people who shrank from confronting him in debate while he lived now slander him when he cannot answer. They spit on his memory because they could not withstand his arguments. They malign his character because they could not overcome his convictions. Their attacks reveal not strength but weakness. Not courage but cowardice.

It is difficult not to see the parallel with Stephen, the first Christian martyr. In Acts 6–7, Stephen stood before the religious leaders of his day — and make no mistake, progressivism is a worldly religion — and he proclaimed the truth with boldness. Scripture records that “they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking” (Acts 6:10). And when they could not defeat his arguments, they killed him.

So it is with Charlie. When the world could not overcome his courage, when they could not silence his voice in life, they silenced him in death. But like Stephen, his testimony will outlive his assassins. His words will echo longer than their slander. His life will bear fruit that their hatred cannot erase.

Two different spirits

What explains this radical difference?

On one hand, you have a spirit of rage. A spirit that justifies destruction as expression. A spirit that sees justice as vengeance. That spirit has turned too many American cities into ruins.

On the other hand, you have the Spirit of God. A Spirit that produces repentance instead of riots. Worship instead of war. Candles instead of chaos. When the world lost Charlie Kirk, a true martyr, the response revealed something deeper — something eternal.

The battle lines of our culture are not political but spiritual. The evidence could not be more clear.

The apostle Paul reminds us that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness” (Ephesians 6:12). What we are seeing is not merely two different sets of political responses but two different kingdoms on display.

One kingdom demands chaos and calls it justice.

The other kingdom meets tragedy with truth, grace, and hope in Christ.

Which one will define the future of this nation?

History teaches us that rage consumes itself. Cities burned in Ferguson and Kenosha are still rebuilding years later. Families who lost businesses in Minneapolis never recovered. Violence devours its own.

But the fruits of the Spirit endure. Out of Charlie Kirk’s death, lives are being changed forever. The gospel is advancing. The church is awakening.

The call to Christians

The contrast forces every Christian to make a choice.

Will we be swept into the mob’s logic — that vengeance and destruction are the only way forward? Or will we align ourselves with the way of the cross — the way of sacrifice, prayer, and truth proclaimed without fear?

The stakes are high. What America witnessed in the days after George Floyd’s death and the days after Charlie Kirk’s assassination is the clash of worldviews, the collision of kingdoms.

One worldview justifies destruction in the name of oppression. The other proclaims that true freedom is found only in Christ.

One kingdom burns buildings. The other lights candles.

Riots or revival?

The Charlie Kirk Memorial last month was not just a gathering. It was a glimpse into the kind of nation we could be if truth, courage, and the gospel were once again at the center of public life. It was a reminder that even in death, the witness of one faithful man can ignite a movement more powerful than any protest.

The flames of rage consume cities. The flames of faith light the world.

The choice is clear: Riots or revival? Chaos or Christ?

RELATED: Charlie Kirk's legacy exposes a corrosive lie — and now it's time to choose

PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

And for those who haven’t seen the Charlie Kirk Memorial, hear this from someone who was there in person: No video could capture the palpable power in that room. Politician after politician rose — not to promote themselves but to proclaim Christ’s gospel.

Testimonies poured out of the life Charlie lived, giving himself to students across this country, loving his wife and children faithfully, and modeling what it means to live for something greater than yourself, what it means to truly submit and boldly follow Christ Jesus our Lord.

The video screens could show faces but not the depth of what we felt inside that hall. The sheer numbers of people. The dignitaries. The everyday Americans. All united as we sang, listened, cried, mourned, and celebrated our friend Charlie Kirk.

I cannot remember a time when I was more inspired to tell the truth, to oppose the lies, and to stand for Christ more boldly — and I am now wasting no time in doing so.

We’ve all got work to do. We’ve got a civilization to save. We have a King to proclaim, Jesus Christ.

So Charlie, rest in heaven — we’ll take it from here.

This article is adapted from an essay originally published at Liberty University's Standing for Freedom Center.

How Charlie Kirk’s popularity exposes the cost of silent pulpits



The sudden wave of grief and admiration from young people after Charlie Kirk’s death caught many parents and grandparents off guard. High-schoolers and college students didn’t just know his name — they were fans. They followed him closely, quoted him, and saw him as a guide in confusing times.

But why? Kirk was not a movie star, athlete, or pop-culture influencer. He didn’t set fashion trends or headline concerts. What made him connect so deeply with a generation?

Silence does not comfort the searching. It leaves them adrift.

The answer is simple: Charlie Kirk had answers.

While America’s pulpits too often fell silent about cultural issues, Kirk spoke plainly about them. And young people, desperate for clarity and confused about the way forward, finally had a leader.

Silence in the pulpit

I once interviewed a 19-year-old in Madison Square Park who was visibly frustrated. He insisted he didn’t hate women or minorities and wasn’t extreme politically. He simply wanted the chance to live his life without being branded a "bigot" because of his identity as a white male. His frustration wasn’t anger — it was despair.

What struck me was not just his words, but the hopelessness behind them.

If he attended most evangelical churches in America, he would not have found answers. Many churches, even when disagreeing with progressive ideas, avoid speaking against them. Instead, they sidestep controversy, hoping silence will win them credibility.

But silence does not comfort the searching. It leaves them adrift.

What young people face

Several years ago, a megachurch youth pastor asked me what challenges high-schoolers face. I told him this generation is drowning in questions of identity. They don’t know who they are, how to discern truth, or how to recover from failure. Depression and suicidal thoughts are widespread.

He dismissed my concerns until days later, when both gender-identity questions and suicidal struggles appeared in his ministry. Even then, when I offered to help equip his students, he rejected the offer — in anger.

RELATED: Charlie Kirk's legacy exposes a corrosive lie — and now it's time to choose

WoodyUpstate/Getty Images Plus

This isn’t an isolated story. For decades, many youth leaders have minimized cultural and moral questions, reducing Christianity to behavior management and vague encouragement. Students are left unprepared for the real battles they face.

Of course, I’m grateful for the pastors and leaders who reject this trend, but make no mistake: The trend was very real. Students needed answers. Charlie was giving them.

A hunger for clarity

That's why Kirk struck a chord. He didn't shy away from questions about gender, identity, politics, and morality. Agree or disagree with his conclusions, young people heard in him something they rarely heard from pastors: conviction.

When I was once given 50 minutes to “equip” high-school seniors for college with apologetics, I found the proposition laughable. You’ve had services twice a week for four years, and you think 50 minutes of apologetics is enough to prepare them for the lies and untruth they will face day in and day out?

But it illustrates the deeper problem — leaders who thought silence is safe. They were told by all the church gurus that if they were silent, somehow that would turn into gospel opportunities.

Big mistake. It isn’t until people know the truth that the truth will set them free. Silence brings slavery. And into that vacuum stepped Charlie Kirk.

The lesson for the church

Kirk’s popularity among young people should encourage us: This generation's young people are hungry for answers, and they are not turned off by clarity.

At the same time, it should warn us: If pastors will not equip the next generation with biblical truth about cultural issues, someone else will step in to fill the void.

Charlie Kirk did not captivate young people because he was trendy. He did it because he was clear. And that is precisely what too many pastors have been unwilling to be.

I’m thankful for the exceptions. Men like Rob McCoy, Jack Hibbs, David Engelhardt, and many others have been faithful to equip their congregations.

The challenge is before us now. Will the church continue in fearful silence? Or will it recover the courage to declare what scripture says — not just about heaven and hell, but about identity, morality, truth, and life in the public square?

Young people are listening, and they are desperate for your voice. Let’s learn from the life of Charlie Kirk and boldly speak truth in love.

Facing darkness: What no one tells you about haunted houses



For most people, haunted houses sound like the stuff of folklore or movies and television. Naturalists, as well as a number of Christians, doubt that houses or people can be haunted.

But for those who have experienced it firsthand, it’s a very real and frightening phenomenon — and it’s also more widespread than most people realize.

An infestation is often the result of a door that has been opened, giving the demonic permission or authority to do their work.

A 2022 YouGov poll found that one in four Americans say they've lived in a house they believe was haunted. Thousands of YouTube videos purport to show people recording paranormal activity in their homes. At the same time, there is a deluge of bad advice online and in print of what to do when you discover negative spiritual activity in your home.

I want to offer advice from a Christian perspective on how best to respond if you ever find yourself in a haunted house while also discussing what shouldn’t be done.

The demonic truth

Two important points of clarification. First, the kind of haunting I’m referring to is one in which the phenomena being produced cause fear and distress for the people in the home. Some people report mild experiences, like the occasional feeling of a presence.

But the type of haunting I’m addressing is characterized by frightening and sometimes violent activity. These include banging or scratching sounds, disembodied voices, foul odors, sudden drops in temperature, objects disappearing or moving on their own, dark figures or other apparitions, and physical attacks, to name a few.

Second, I believe this type of haunting is always the work of demons. It does seem to be the case that God allows some human spirits to linger or make appearances on earth. In my view, these may be the souls of the unsaved whose punishment in the intermediate state includes spending additional but distressing time on earth.

But the phenomena mentioned above, which are aimed at inflicting psychological distress, are always, in my view, perpetrated by the demonic. This accords with scripture and reflects the experiences of Christians who work in this area.

What not to do

First, don’t hesitate to talk to people you trust about your experiences.

Most people understandably fear being labeled "crazy" or "attention-seeking" if they reveal what they’re dealing with. But this serves the purposes of the demonic, who want to isolate an individual or family so that they suffer alone and don’t receive help. Share your circumstances as soon as possible with trusted family and friends, and especially seek out mature Christians and clergy.

On the other hand, there are people it’s best to avoid talking to. This includes nearly all paranormal investigators and books or articles by non-Christians on the paranormal.

Some paranormal investigators or ghost hunters are charlatans, while others are well-meaning. Even with the latter, there is nothing these folks can do to help. They can try to capture paranormal activity on cameras or other devices, but that does nothing to help someone under demonic attack. These teams often include people who describe themselves as mediums or psychics who can convey false information demons want them to relay.

As I’ve written about previously, when a medium was called in to help with the real-life Annabelle doll case, the demon concocted a story about being a 7-year-old girl who had died. This was a ploy to gain the sympathy of the doll’s owner, and it led to the owner giving the demon permission to inhabit the doll.

Talk to trusted pastors or other mature Christians who can actually help fight the enemy. Non-Christians will have endless mistaken theories about what’s happening and what should be done, but only those steeped in scripture who walk closely with Christ can help.

What to do

I’ve been saying that it’s important to talk to Christian clergy, but I also have to offer the warning that some will not believe you or will you tell you they can’t help.

There are a few reasons for this. Some clergy don’t believe that Satan exists but instead believe he's a symbol or just the product of a superstitious ancient culture. Others will be too fearful to help, or think they lack the necessary training or experience. Some will think it will damage the reputation of their church if word gets out that they’re in the business of dealing with demons.

As a result, it may be necessary to talk to several different pastors or priests before you find one who is willing to help.

This is an important step, because the ideal solution to a demonic infestation is for a Bible-believing, spiritually mature pastor to come and bless the home and cast the demons out. This usually involves prayers and reading scripture passages and sometimes the use of holy water or anointing oil, along with commanding the demons to leave by Christ’s authority. It may take multiple visits and blessings to fully rid the home of the infestation.

If a pastor can’t be found to help, a strong, devoted, spiritually mature Christian can also perform the blessing. This should never be taken lightly, however, because whoever does it will enter into serious spiritual warfare and likely face attacks in their own lives.

RELATED: The Annabelle doll tour is a demonic death trap — but nobody's taking it seriously

Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Another important step is to try to determine why a particular person, family, or home is under attack.

An infestation is often the result of a door that has been opened, giving the demonic permission or authority to do their work. Probably the most common way a door is opened is through activities related to the occult.

Attempts to interact with the spiritual world in ways forbidden by scripture (see, for example, Deuteronomy 18:10-12) can easily open doors to the demonic. One pair of Christians who did work in this area said that 70% of their cases involved someone using an Ouija board.

In some cases, there doesn’t seem to be a clear reason why a particular family or home is targeted. But if the occult is involved, whoever has participated must ask God’s forgiveness and turn away from it. This includes doing away with any occult objects.

Finally, ultimate deliverance from the demonic will only come through a genuine saving relationship with Jesus Christ. This involves acknowledging that one has sinned against God and accepting Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross in which he took the punishment for our sins (1 Peter 2:24). It also requires making Jesus the Lord of one’s life (Luke 9:23-24).

One of the chief reasons Christ came was to “destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8) and to rescue people from “the dominion of darkness” and bring them into his kingdom of light (Colossians 1:13). The born-again follower of Christ is given authority to “overcome all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:19).

Christians will sometimes face dark spiritual battles, but through Christ we can emerge victorious (Ephesians 6:11-13).

Navy SEAL Who Preached the Gospel to Joe Rogan Shares Salvation Message | Chadd Wright | Ep 1249
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Navy SEAL Who Preached the Gospel to Joe Rogan Shares Salvation Message | Chadd Wright | Ep 1249

Bring God back to schools — before it’s too late



The abrupt assassination of a young husband and father — who joyfully invited strangers from all walks of life to debate him in public forums —was a barbaric assault on all Americans and our shared foundational values, free speech, and religious liberty.

I was deeply disturbed by the deranged sickness of morally bankrupt Americans rejoicing at Charlie Kirk’s reprehensible murder. I’ve unceasingly prayed and wept for his family and friends as though they were my own.

It's time to get the Bible back into schools to revitalize the true meaning of liberty and respect for your neighbor.

Yet as a mom and a Christian, I know I must not despair. The Bible likens despair to a refusal of hope, justice, and goodness.

At Kirk’s historic memorial, President Donald Trump mentioned a renewed urgency to including the holy Bible in public life. Erika Kirk modeled positive, convicted fortitude through motherhood — with grit, grace, and gospel — that I have never before witnessed in a publicly broadcasted forum. “Be an Erika Kirk in a Kardashian world” commentaries flood my social media feeds.

But an exasperating and lingering question remains: “How did America get here?” Guns? Social media? Absent parenting? Ignorant education? A desensitizing news cycle?

A root cause is expelling God from public schools.

Foundation shattered

Charlie Kirk was wrongly labeled as a “hateful extremist” because millions of students have been brainwashed, for decades, to dissociate America’s foundation from God.

Young people have been conditioned to be offended by truth and context and now automatically treat neighbors like garbage and claim that “words are violence” when they disagree.

Historically, educators partnered with parents to reinforce our shared American values as they were rooted in the Bible. Through the 1800s, schools and colleges often included the Bible as a textbook. Our founding fathers stressed the importance of morals and religious knowledge for a functioning republic.

In a 1798 statement, John Adams himself wrote, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

But here’s where we are now:

  • Most fifth-graders don’t learn that the 13 colonies required a declaration of faith to hold a public office.
  • Very few eighth-graders are taught that our Declaration of Independence mentions God four times — a majority of the 56 signers were Bible-believing Christians.
  • A majority of high-school students have zero knowledge that our Liberty Bell, as well as countless government landmarks, including our Capitol, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, and more, are inscribed with biblical verses.
  • Non-denominational prayer, Bible stories, the Ten Commandments, and the mere words “one nation under God” are disputed, degraded, and often prohibited from public gatherings at elementary schools through universities.
  • Schools used to teach biblical principles like the Golden Rule to promote good character and conduct, but now secular-driven “restorative discipline” dictates that right, wrong, good, evil, truth, and lies are relative.

Moral education begins at home, but what happens if that falls short?

Chaos reigns

Without reinforcement in schools, we evidently get a generation of morally ignorant citizens unable to function in a republic. Kirk himself once explained that the way our government was set up is no longer compatible with our current, faith-rejecting citizenry and public institutions. I agree.

Absent parents and the exclusion of 3,000-year-old wisdom from our school systems bear the blame.

Now, students are actively taught that God is not and never was part of our nation’s founding, that there is no safety alongside someone who thinks differently from you, and that words are violence. Smartphone worship, disrespect for parents and teachers without consequence, and the abandonment of rules and order have infected our nation.

Notwithstanding our rightful religious differences as Americans, it’s time to get the Bible back into schools — as a historical work that helped establish our nation and laws — to revitalize the true meaning of liberty and respect for your neighbor.

Teaching students to understand our U.S. Constitution gets much easier if students are knowledgeable about the biblical ideals that shaped it. The Bible also provides practical order, like the Golden Rule, that chaotic classrooms can certainly benefit from today.

Myth exposed

But what about Thomas Jefferson’s “separation of church and state”? It’s a stretched fabrication that I’m ashamed to admit I once believed.

Five years ago, I supported keeping biblical mentions out of public schools and forums. As a baptized, lifelong Christian — active in church as a child and now a Sunday School teacher as an adult — even I was brainwashed and miseducated.

RELATED: Why Trump's religious liberty agenda terrifies the left — but tells the truth

plherrera/Getty Images

In 1947, the Supreme Court case of Everson v. Board of Education ruled that neither a state nor the federal government could "pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another." For the first time in American history, the First Amendment was now not only about the prohibition of establishing a national religion; it was also about not giving any encouragement to any religion. The modern “strict separation” view was born.

The five justices drafted their decision not based on the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution, but on a brief letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802, citing his personal conviction that religious belief should include “building a wall of separation between Church & State.”

In 1962, the Supreme Court further ruled in Engel v. Vitale that a generic school prayer violated the Court’s new definition of the First Amendment. “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our country."

The prayer was not specific to Christianity or any religion and was reminiscent of the language of the Declaration of Independence. Yet it was still deemed unconstitutional.

Since then, the "separation of church and state" language has been used to remove God and appreciation for our foundational morality from public life and, most tragically, from our schools.

Do we have happier or better-educated student citizens because of this?

Dismal test scores, school shootings, record numbers of mentally ill teens, campus violence, increasingly anti-American curriculum, and depraved TikToks celebrating the public execution of an innocent man exercising peaceful free speech in a public forum prove otherwise.

Bring God back

Is it possible that those Supreme Court decisions were misguided and wrong for our society?

This sickness is destroying each of us — and our country — in real time. This is why we do what we do at PragerU Kids.

Parents and teachers, now is the time to bravely support and include:

  • the Bible in academic historical discussions.
  • non-denominational prayer at school events.
  • the Ten Commandments as they relate to America’s founding values for freedom.
  • saying God’s name at your child’s school … no matter who may be irrationally triggered.

Don’t let anyone trick you into thinking these things are hateful. The life, liberty, and happiness of our republic literally depend on it.

I'm grateful for the White House’s nationwide “America Prays” initiative, as well as state leaders in Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and more who are taking action to get Bibles and/or the Ten Commandments included in public school classrooms again.

I’m not suggesting a mandated belief in the theology of the Bible, but rather a general and practical K-12 education and inclusion of how the Bible’s rules, order, and tenets were foundational to our nation.

Just as kids should learn that slavery is abhorrent (as the Bible teaches), it's imperative that young Americans learn how our founders’ vision of limited government, through faith-based values of blind justice and truthful morality, only works when citizens have a mutually respected moral compass. Countless historical writings, works, and landmarks prove that America’s hard-fought liberty is contingent on ethical citizens.

Get God — and the goodness, hope, virtue, and equality taught in the Bible — back into our schools and communities now, because what we’ve been doing for the last 75 years isn’t working. And time’s running out.

Truth is whatever Hillary says today



If you’ve spent any time in politics, you know progressives contradict themselves so often that exposing their double-talk could keep conservative commentators busy for several lifetimes.

At first, young conservatives may find it thrilling to point out those blunders and imagine that the liberal across from them will be persuaded. But here’s the hard lesson: Only people with integrity change their minds when they find contradictions in their own thinking.

The goal isn’t to win the argument but lose your integrity. It’s to speak truth with courage and charity.

Progressives don’t stumble into incoherence by accident. They wield it like a smokescreen. The confusion keeps conscientious conservatives chasing their own tails. Conservatives, by temperament, want coherence, so they expect others to want it, too. But the record shows otherwise.

Take Hillary Clinton. Last week on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” she urged Americans to stop finger-pointing — before immediately blaming Republicans for the country’s problems. A Yale degree didn’t inoculate her against incoherence. As Charlie Kirk once observed at Cambridge, high IQ is no guarantee of wisdom. Clinton didn’t notice the contradiction, and even if she did, it wouldn’t matter. She is paid handsomely to talk, and truth never slows her down.

Moments later in the same appearance, she called for a return to “truth-based reality,” insisting that facts and evidence must matter again. This from the same woman who affirms that a man can become a woman. Truth wasn’t invited to that party. Now, she tells us it must rule the day.

The effect is dizzying, and that is the point.

What should concern us isn’t simply the logic game. It’s the condition of her soul. What happens to a soul shaped for decades by falsehood and injustice?

Clinton also revealed her deepest fear. She does not fear God. She fears the people of God — especially white, male Christians. She said so on national television just weeks after Kirk was assassinated by a trans-supporting terrorist who bought into rhetoric spewed by politicians like her. And yet, here she is again, pouring fuel on the fire.

The irony didn’t stop there. She wondered aloud how today’s politics could be “so contrary to the founding principles and values this country was built on.” This from the same politician who treats the Constitution as a “living document” to be reshaped whenever it confounds her political prejudices. She wasn’t concerned with founding principles when Donald Trump was banned from Twitter or prosecuted by the Biden Justice Department.

But pointing out contradictions only goes so far. The deeper warning is this: Hillary Clinton is what happens when you spend a lifetime saying whatever advances your career. She is willing to contradict herself publicly — and attack Christians — for money and applause. My own university, Arizona State, paid her $500,000 to host the Clinton Global Initiative.

Socrates put it best: The true philosopher, the lover of the good, doesn’t chase political power, money, or fame. He wants only this — that when he leaves this life, his soul is not defiled by injustice.

RELATED: Charlie Kirk thrived on truth and virtue over grievance-mongering

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That’s the lesson for young conservatives. Exposing contradictions is fine. It can even be fun. But don’t forget what matters more: Never let your soul become like Hillary Clinton’s.

G.K. Chesterton once wrote that the modern mind cuts down the signposts and then complains no one knows the way home. That is the progressive project in our time: Deny first principles, denounce those who keep them, and demand the comforts those principles once secured.

So take this counsel seriously:

  • Guard your soul more than your timeline. Social media glory is cheap; a clean conscience is priceless.
  • Pursue coherence because it is true, not because it is clever. Wit is garnish; truth is the meal.
  • Fear God more than fashion. Today’s trends are tomorrow’s embarrassments; the fear of the Lord endures.

The goal isn’t to win the argument but lose your integrity. It’s to speak truth with courage and charity, to resist compromise with evil for the sake of applause, and to leave this world with a soul unstained by injustice.

That victory is higher than anything Hillary Clinton will ever claim — and it is the only victory that lasts.

Charlie Kirk's legacy exposes a corrosive lie — and now it's time to choose



Charlie Kirk’s memorial service was wasn’t just a remembrance — it was a revelation.

The memorial service was Christian nationalism in nascent, immature form. Not everyone who spoke was a Christian — and Christian nationalism does not require that. Yet what stood out most was that even people who do not share Charlie’s faith in Jesus showed open respect for the gospel. Everyone at the service was operating under the Christian gaze.

As the left grows more openly hostile to Christian belief, the right is becoming more consistently Christian.

The truth is this: We cannot make America great again without making America Christian again, which in turn means making America biblical again.

MAGA needs MACA and MABA.

No neutral ground

For too long, Republicans spoke in vague religious clichés, paying lip service to an undefined faith in a nameless god. But Kirk’s memorial service was different. We saw speaker after speaker dare to define his faith in explicitly Christian terms.

This marks a seismic shift in a very short period of time. At the memorial, civil magistrates openly proclaimed the lordship of Christ as public truth. Media influencers called on us to repent of our particular sins particularly. A new widow forgave her husband’s alleged killer, in accord with Jesus’ teaching, and civil magistrates promised to use their power to terrorize evildoers, in accord with Romans 13.

As the left grows more openly hostile to Christian belief, the right is becoming more consistently Christian.

The lines are more clearly drawn than ever before. Both the service itself and the events of the last two weeks illustrate this reality.

Perhaps the most important part of the memorial was that Charlie Kirk’s legacy was accurately portrayed. Charlie consistently emphasized the cultural, political, and civilizational impact of Christian faith. Unlike many pastors, he was willing to connect the dots, linking his Christian beliefs to every sphere of life: economics, marriage and family, immigration and nationhood, limited government, and more.

For him, the Christian faith was not a private set of religious ideas but a comprehensive system of truth that works in the real world. He challenged people (especially college students) with a biblical worldview, demonstrating that Christian faith offers coherent and compelling answers to both the pressing personal and political questions of the day.

That conviction came through in the memorial service, and for that I am grateful.

Third-wayism fails

It's now becoming painfully obvious that the “third-wayism” of so many “Big Eva” leaders has been exposed as untenable.

Third-wayism treats both sides of the political spectrum as morally equivalent, with each side getting some things right and other things wrong. Third-wayism advocates attempt to remain neutral, in order to avoid controversy and causing offense.

But in reality, there is no middle ground between progressive/secular and conservative/Christian political commitments. Those who want to avoid the culture war will still be drawn into it — just on the wrong side.

Third-wayists try to stay above the fray, but in doing so they actually compromise with evil. Because they insist on balancing left and right, if the left radicalizes and moves farther left, the third-wayist must also shift leftward in order to remain in the “middle.” In the process, third-way advocates end up justifying extreme progressive positions simply to maintain their supposed neutrality.

They are constantly chasing an Overton window that keeps moving leftward.

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At its core, third-wayism attempts to treat progressivism as equally compatible with the Christian faith as conservatism. It's true that there exists a kind of Christ-less conservatism that reduces faith to cultural nostalgia or civic religion. This kind of “bar-stool conservatism” should be critiqued and rejected. But in general, conservative positions overlap with biblical truth, whereas progressive positions stand as its direct antithesis.

Conservative, or traditional, Christian theology simply cannot mix with progressive politics any more than oil can mix with water.

Third-wayism is not humility or evangelistic wisdom. Rather, it's a form of the fear of man disguised as humility. It seeks to ingratiate itself with the left — never to the right. It's surrender rather than engagement, following rather than leading. It lacks substance and depth. It has no coherent political philosophy of its own. Its positions are dictated by how far to the left the progressive zeitgeist is willing to go. Third-wayists are easily manipulated precisely because of their refusal to take a firm stand. The third-wayist cannot draw a line in the sand.

The third-wayism dynamic, therefore, produces the familiar “coddle the left, punch the right” tendency, where progressive evils are gently excused while conservative shortcomings are harshly condemned. It assumes there is neutrality in the culture war when, in reality, there is none.

The third-wayist paradigm that has dominated the church in recent decades has allowed the culture to keep moving leftward without resistance. It never actually fights the battles that most need to be fought.

Christian faith, however, is not a private sentiment that can remain above political conflict.

Christ or chaos

The Christian faith is a fighting faith. It's a civilization-building, culture-transforming faith. It claims to be public truth, rooted in hard-edged historical fact. It's inherently political because it makes demands on rulers and the ruled alike. It includes an ethic that governs all of life, including political life.

America is dividing between those who embrace a consistently Christian vision of life and those who oppose it.

When King David commanded the kings of the earth to “kiss the Son,” there was no third way. When the apostles proclaimed “Jesus is Lord,” they were not splitting the difference between competing political poles. When Jesus said all authority in heaven and earth belong to him, he left no middle ground. When Christians say that life in the womb must be protected, there is no third option; the baby will either live or be murdered. When Christians say men are men and women are women, there is no place for the third-wayist to run and hide from the truth.

The gospel does not call us to neutrality. It calls us to allegiance. Third-wayism, by pretending otherwise, only serves to mask compromise as virtue. Third-wayism is a denial of Jesus’ lordship.

Charlie’s legacy is at the heart of this moment. Charlie never took the third way. He took the Christian way. He refused to compromise with the madness and folly of the left. Charlie’s ministry and martyrdom are a sign that the time for fence-sitting is over.

The lines are drawn.

America is dividing into two camps: one that bows to Christ and one that rages against him. The future belongs to those who have the courage to say what Charlie Kirk said with his life — that Christian faith is not optional if we want a civilization worth living in. America is dividing between those who embrace a consistently Christian vision of life and those who oppose it.

Which side are you on? Only two options are on the table — not three.

The memorial service revealed something profound: a clear contrast between two moral and spiritual visions of America and the need for courage in identifying with the one that aligns with biblical truth rather than cowardly compromise. Charlie embodied that courage, and his legacy continues to press the church and the nation toward a faith that is not abstract but applied — a faith that shapes culture, politics, economics, and civilization itself.

The memorial marked more than the remembrance of one man. It revealed a cultural realignment that Charlie helped bring about. His courage in connecting Christian faith to every dimension of life is the kind of legacy that points the way forward.

Scripture or slogans — you have to choose



“Don’t give me doctrine — just give me Jesus.”

It sounds humble, even noble. But ask, “Who is Jesus?” and suddenly you’re doing theology. You cannot follow a Savior you refuse to define.

The modern church has traded catechism for catchphrases. “God has a wonderful plan for your life.” “Don’t judge.” “Everything happens for a reason.” Feelings outrank Scripture. Sentiment trumps substance. Haul those slogans into an ICU or a funeral home and watch how empty they sound.

I’ve been a caregiver for four decades. My wife has endured 98 surgeries, the amputation of both legs, and relentless pain. I’ve tested theology in the harshest corridors of suffering. If it doesn’t hold up there, it doesn’t hold at all.

Jesus said to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. Paul told believers to be transformed by the renewing of the mind. Thinking is not optional for Christians. It’s obedience.

Common sense without Scripture isn’t wisdom — it’s presumption.

Charlie Kirk understood this. He urged Christians to prepare their minds and defend the gospel, echoing Peter’s command: “Always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). A church allergic to thinking leaves its people defenseless.

God Himself asked hard questions: “Where are you?” “Where is your brother?” “Who do you say I am?” From Eden to Emmaus, He forced clarity. If the Creator asks hard questions, why should His people settle for bumper-sticker answers?

Economist Thomas Sowell cut through bad reasoning with three questions: Compared to what? At what cost? What hard data do you have? Christians should be just as discerning.

When someone says, “God told me ...,” the right response is, “Where is that in Scripture?” Jeremiah 29:11 wasn’t written for entrepreneurs chasing dreams. It was God’s word to exiles facing 70 years of captivity. Context matters.

Bad theology always hands someone the bill. “If you had more faith, you’d be healed.” Cost: shame when healing doesn’t come. “God just wants you happy.” Cost: broken families. “Don’t judge.” Cost: silence in the face of destruction. Cheap slogans carry devastating price tags.

The real test? Would you say it to grieving parents? To a family in hospice? If not, why say it at all? Job’s friends did well when they sat in silence. Once they opened their mouths, they leaned on speculation that sounded like wisdom. God rebuked them for speaking falsely about Him. Common sense without Scripture isn’t wisdom — it’s presumption.

I saw that same trap in a heated exchange with a friend. He waved off Scripture: “That doesn’t make sense to me.” Then he defended himself with, “It’s just common sense.” It was a modern echo of Job’s companions: trusting opinion over revelation. My answer stayed the same: “But what does Scripture say?” He had no reply. Like too many believers today, he didn’t know his Bible.

This problem extends beyond private conversation. When Jimmy Kimmel returned from suspension, he tearfully said he tried to follow the teachings of Jesus. It sounded noble. But isn’t that just another way of saying, “Just give me Jesus” — without doctrine, without definition?

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Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

Where does he think those teachings come from? The only record of Jesus’ words is in Scripture. To claim His teaching while denying His identity cuts out the very ground you’re standing on. Which parts of the Bible will he follow, and which will he ignore? You cannot have the Sermon on the Mount without “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). C.S. Lewis was blunt: Jesus was Lord, lunatic, or liar. There is no safe middle ground. To quote Him on television while ignoring His divinity may play well on-screen, but it isn’t Christianity.

Proverbs gives the wiser course: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). Our reasoning is clouded by sin. Scripture, not sentiment, must be our guide.

Jesus never called for blind faith. He asked, “Who do you say that I am?” He invited thought, demanded clarity, and confronted error. We don’t need louder voices. We need sharper minds — sanctified, surrendered, and grounded in Scripture.

Truth doesn’t fear scrutiny. Faith doesn’t fear questions. So ask them. Challenge the slogans. Don’t leave your brain in the narthex.

Feelings collapse. Scripture stands.